THE GOD-MAN LIVING

MESSAGE FIVE

A WORD OF DEFINITION

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OUTLINE

1. The way of righteousness:
   Scripture Reading:
   Matt. 21:32: “John came to you in the way of righteousness.”
   1. The Old Testament dispensation of law ended at the commencement of the first God-man’s ministry:
      1. The law of the Old Testament dispensation charged man to do good according to the law that man might be justified by God according to His law (Lev. 18:5), yet men sought to establish their own righteousness, not subject to the righteousness of God—Rom. 10:3, 5.
      2. The outcome of the law was that man was exposed to be sinful before the righteous God (Rom. 4:15; 5:20; Gal. 3:19) and no man of the flesh could be justified by God (Rom. 3:20).
   2. The New Testament dispensation, the dispensation of grace, that is, the dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, began from the preaching of John the Baptist—Mark 1:1-4:
      1. John came in the way of righteousness and preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near”—Matt. 3:2.
      2. John charged the people to repent because of the kingdom of the heavens. The kingdom of God is of righteousness (Rom. 14:17), and the kingdom of the heavens is particularly based upon righteousness (Matt. 5:20). This righteousness is the foundation of God’s throne (Psa. 89:14).
      3. When the people received John’s preaching and came to repent to him, he right away baptized them by putting them into the water to bury them, indicating that they were men of the flesh who had nothing good (Rom. 7:18) and were worthy only of death and burial.
      4. Following John’s ministry, Jesus Christ came and baptized these people with the Spirit, joining them, in resurrection, to God, who saved them by justifying them according to His righteousness—Rom. 1:17; 3:21-25; 1 Cor. 1:30.
      5. Furthermore, after He died judicially for these repentant people, Christ resurrected to live within them that they may live by Christ’s life a life of righteousness to be justified by God all the time—Rom. 4:25.
      6. All these people are called “the righteous” who will shine forth like the sun in the coming kingdom (Matt. 13:43), and their righteousness will abide in the new heavens and new earth forever (2 Pet. 3:13).
      7. Thus, to repent and be baptized according to John’s preaching and practice was ordained by God according to the righteous requirements of God’s eternal economy; hence, it is to fulfill the righteousness of God (Matt. 3:15) as a matter of eternity.
2. The proper and righteous base of Jesus’ baptism:
   Scripture Reading:
   Matt. 3:13-15: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, It is I who have need of being baptized by You, and You come to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it for now, for it is fitting for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness. Then he permitted Him.”
   1. The base for Jesus to be baptized is that He considered Himself, according to His humanity, a man, especially an Israelite, who is a man “in the flesh” (John 1:14). Even though He was only “in the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3), “without sin” (Heb. 4:15), yet He was “in the flesh,” which has nothing good but is worthy only of death and burial.
   2. Based upon this fact, at the beginning of His ministry for God, He was willing to be baptized by John the Baptist, recognizing that, according to His humanity, He was one who did not have any qualification to be a servant of God.
   3. As a man in the flesh, He needed to be a dead man buried in the death water to fulfill God’s New Testament requirement according to His righteousness, and He did it willingly, considering it the fulfilling of God’s righteousness. Such a base surely is proper and righteous.